Deputy Director of the city’s tourism department Trần Chí Cường said the department in co-operation with the public security force, had completed a report on the case before proposing a strict fine for the violations committed by the Chinese nationals.

He said the Chinese had worked as tourist guides and had done accounting jobs for the company, which handled Chinese tour groups visiting destinations in the city and the central region.

It’s the second such case in which the city’s police and tourism inspection team have found Chinese nationals illegally operating tourist services and violating residency laws.

On July 6, the city fined six Chinese nationals VNĐ125 million (about US$5,500) for illegally operating tourist services and violating residency laws.

According to the city’s tourism department, at least 60 Chinese guides were working illegally in the city, and most of the Chinese travel agencies handling Chinese tour groups disguised operations with a Vietnamese licence, as directed by Chinese managers.

Local Vietnamese guides had made a video clip and taken a photo of a Chinese guide Xue Chun Zhe, who had presented a distorted view of Vietnamese history and culture during a tour of the Linh Ứng Pagoda and Mỹ Khê Beach.

Last month, the city’s tourism department revoked the business licence of a local travel agency for nine months, after one of its Chinese tourists burnt Vietnamese money in a downtown bar in the city.

Đà Nẵng’s tourism department distributed 5,000 leaflets in Chinese last week, promoting a code of conduct for Chinese tourists at airports, stations, destinations and hotels, besides resorts and public areas.

The central city hosted 600,000 Chinese tourists in the first half this year, an 83 per cent increase in comparison with last year. Chinese tourists comprised a quarter of all tourists visiting the city.

The city’s Party Secretary Nguyễn Xuân Anh said the city did not discriminate Chinese tourists from other foreign tourists, but the city would fine visitors who violated the law or committed any wrongdoing.

The city plans to establish a tourism police force as a pilot project to boost security for tourists and the tourism sector in the 2016-2020 period. — VNS